Fortunately, Once Again
by WolfishMoon
Summary: Exactly the same, but entirely different. Later in life, that would be the way Tsume Cantrell would describe his many lives. The memories of lives past, perhaps kindly, wouldn't come till later, but when he was ten years old, Tsume (along with everyone else) would be called upon by a miraculous, marvelous plant to do something they'd done many times before.
1. Foster Care, Family, and Thieves

_**Okay, an idea that I've been cultivating for ages. Now that I've got all my past/present life parallels down, I'm writing. I've never written a Wolf's Rain fanfiction, so please review. It would mean a great deal to me!**_

_**Disclaimer: My page very clearly states that I live in the US. Wolf's Rain was created in Japan. There is a half a planet between Wolf's Rain and I. Literally. And while I'm learning Japanese, I am in no way affiliated with the translators. I DON'T OWN ANY ASPECT OF MY BELOVED WOLF'S RAIN!**_

_**There**_.

* * *

"Tsume! Dinner!"

I sighed, looking out my open bedroom window. I was on my usual perch on the window sill, back to the frame, legs pulled up so that my toes just barely brushed the other end of the frame. I caught the sent of rabbit and my mouth watered, but instead of leaping from the window to the yard below as every fibre of my being wished to do, I touched my feet to the wooden floor of my bedroom.

"Coming!"

It was a tricky business, going through human foster care, but it was well worth it, I reflected as I speared my fork into the steak put before me. While freshly killed meat always tasted better, there was rarely enough of it. At least the family I was with now was much better than the last.

The last family was strictly vegetarian. And as I was a growing wolf, that didn't settle well with me. During that period, I hunted for nearly all my food and completely destroyed the whole purpose for this ruse. In the end, they were convinced I was anorexic.

Well, I'd squirreled away enough of the spending money they'd given me for it not to be a total bust.

Pushing the old and somewhat unpleasant memories from my mind, I dug into my steak eagerly. Mr. Stephens always made dinner, and he had no problem with making my meat rare.

A few families ago, I realized that the more polite I was the more I was liked. Or at least in families that cared about that sort of thing. So while I wanted to curtly nod in appreciation before taking my plate to the sink and going upstairs, I forced myself to speak, "Thank you, Mr. Stevens. Mrs. Stevens," they sent me kind smiles.

"You're welcome, Tsume," Mr. Stevens said.

"How often do we have to tell you to call us Paralee and Giles?"

"Sorry," I muttered, "It's habit now," the truth was, I just didn't want to get too familiar with these people. I could be living with them for the next eight years and I never would get familiar with them. Though they were nice enough, I knew I wouldn't be staying there for too long. Something always happened. Whenever a family got even the merest inkling of what I was, the merest inkling that there was something beyond human about me, I got sent to someone else. I slid out my chair and stood. After carrying my plate to the sink, I went to my room and closed the door. It was tricky. Whenever I fell asleep, I couldn't hold up the illusion, and if someone were to come and check on me while I was actually asleep, I'd be done for.

Wolves are extinct.

I have been taught that in every school I've ever gone to, and despite being only ten years old, it's been many. I always wondered why they were so adamant about that, I knew that it was far from the truth, being a wolf myself. Once, I asked why wolves were always taught so relentlessly and I ended up with a detention. Scoffing at the memory, I removed my small 'treasure box' from it's shadowed hiding place in my closet. I sat cross legged on my bed and dumped out the contents. I counted the money that had been inside it and sighed. Only a little more than one hundred and fifty dollars after nearly five years of saving what money I was given and pawning off what little I could inconspicuously steal. I folded the bills, after adding two more dollars, and slipped the coins into a small bag before returning it all to the box, and that to the closet. I had the most awful feeling that I'd never escape the charity of the humans.

* * *

Toboe pushed his nose into his younger cousin's fur. Hige, who had always seemed fearless and flawless, was whimpering.

"It's okay, Hige,"

"I... hate... thunder,"

"It'll all be okay," Toboe did understand Hige's fear. The sound was eerily reminiscent of gunshots.

As night left, so did the storm, and Toboe had the real Hige back. Despite being two years older, Toboe had looked up to Hige who had always been everything the older boy hadn't. It was hard to believe that the womanizing, living garbage disposal was afraid of storms as he wolfed down hot dogs a mile a moment. Toboe ate more slowly, enjoying the smile on Hige's face. Hige had swiped about ten hot dogs from the stand without anyone noticing. Being human really was helpful, Toboe thought, as he finished his much smaller portion off.

"Well, I'm off to work. Go to school, be a good kid. Don't cause trouble," Toboe said with a contented smile.

"Dude, you're seventeen. You should be a senior in high school,"

"I've told you before, I'm being home schooled by Mrs. Armstrong,"

"And being paid to take care of her garden. I get it. I still don't think it's fair," Hige crossed his arms and stuck out his tounge.

"Would you prefer to work?" Toboe asked with a roll of his eyes. Hige sighed.

"I suppose not,"

"'Course. So go to school,"

It was partly because of how wonderful Hige was that Toboe took the role as parent, and while yes, Toboe was jealous, he felt that his younger cousin deserved the best.

* * *

Kiba quietly exited the human dwelling. He'd emptied their fridge, but didn't take anything else. He knew that it always left the cops befuddled, and there was something about that fact that he enjoyed. Kiba was a wolf, and the humans were his messanger, his servant, and they weren't even aware of it.

Every once in a while, he'd flip through the newspapers, and sometimes there would be articles on him, the infamous 'food thief,' those articles had caused many a restaurant to heighten security, much to his dismay.

Kiba liked to think of himself as something of a Robin Hood, stealing food from the rich humans, and giving it to the poor wolves. Except for that one wolf, the wolf that the crows went on and on about. Admittedly, the subject of the crow's gossip was a mere pup, but no wolf should grovel to the humans like him, Tsume.

Tsume could get his own food.

It was around three thirty, and Kiba was walking to the human high school. He sniffed the air for his brown furred friend, and found him flirting with a flock of human females. He elbowed Hige.

"Hige, I need your help with distribution," Hige nodded.

"Now, sorry ladies, but my friend here needs my help, so I gotta go," Kiba couldn't help but roll his eyes at the tittering humans. How could any creature be so irritating?

Minuets later found Hige and Kiba running neck and neck as wolves.

"I don't understand why you spend your time at that school,"

"I told you, it was my cousin's! He wants me edumacated so that I can live side by side with the humans,"

"Just so you can die a miserable death in this city?!" Kiba growled lowly.

"Nah. So that my death won't be quite so miserable, even if it is in this city," the brown wolf laughed, "or at least that's Toboe's reasoning!"

"Why doesn't your cousin go to school?" Kiba asked.

"He's homeschooled by our landlady, Mrs. Anderson. Apparently it was her idea to send me to school in the first place, she was a teacher before she retired.

"It's a sort of trade off that they have. He helps her around the house and provides companionship, she teaches him and let's us stay in her old coach house," Kiba snorted.

"Has he no pride as a wolf?!"

"I honestly don' know. He's proud in every way he knows how to be, I guess," Hige sighed, "Let's cut the small talk. We have to distribute the food to all the neighborhood wolves before Toboe expects me home!" Kiba let out a short barking laugh and put on extra speed.

The afternoons were nice, spent like this.

* * *

Please, review! I wrote this on my phone, so... sorry if formatting is kinda shitty.

If you want to bash my formatting... reveiw!


	2. A Nonexistant Knife, Hunters Still Hunt

**And chapter two. Within a few hours, no less. I really need to go to bed. It's three am and I have roller derby practice at eight am. Ehehe. I just have plot bunnies attacking me. I can't wait to write more! Again, this is written on my phone, so sorry if the formatting sucks. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Wolf's Rain. I just love it.**

* * *

"I won't ask you again, where is the knife, Mr. Wolfe?"

"I told you, there wasn't any knife," I corrected.

"Then how is it that Mr. Lebowski has those gashes on his face?" the principal questioned.

"I have... long nails,"

"Look, Tsume. Just tell the truth," Mr. Costner sighed, "I can see your hands now. You have normal nails," I nearly cursed. Why hadn't I though of changing my human disguise so that my nails looked extraordinarily long?

"They're sharper than they look, sir," how was I going to explain that there wasn't a knife? That the testimony of the guidance councilor in question was simply an illusion that I put up? Gently I ran my nails along the wooden desk, "See?" I pointed at the deep grooves. Mr. Costner seemed at a loss for words, "I can control it somewhat," I ran now dull nails across a different area, and made no grooves, "But when I get angry..." I trailed off. The principal was clutching the armrests of his rolling chair.

I figured that this conversation would only hasten the balding and greying that his hair was already beginning. He also seemed to have noticed that, for his hand nervously ran threw the thinning hair that was left on his head, "Are you telling me that you're not..."

"I'm not telling you anything," I corrected, "Don't read too much into what I'm saying and doing," Mr. Costner nodded slowly.

"Well, I'm afraid that you are suspended for a month," I sighed. I had expected as much. No doubt I would be switching foster homes soon.

"May I go see my teacher and ask him for the course work?"

"It will be mailed home. I'm afraid that since Mr. Lebowski is in the emergency room getting stitches, your teacher is a bit resistant to seeing you until you've calmed down," Mr. Costner frowned disapprovingly. Che. The damn bastard deserved it, anyway.

I was just tired of trash talk on wolves, is all.

* * *

"He's one of your kids, right, Cher?" Hubb Lebowski said to his sister as she drove him home from the hospital.

"Yeah," she said, not taking her blue eyes from the road, "What did you say to him?"

"Nothing! The kid just attacked me!" Hubb protested.

"Well, you must have said something, Hubb, Tsume isn't the type to randomly attack,"

"How would you know?!" The green eyed man slammed his hands on the dash board.

"I've been his caseworker for five years," Cher said matter-of-factly, "You've been his guidance councilor for two months," Hubb sighed.

"Point taken,"

"Mmhm," Cher chuckled, "He really got you, didn't he?"

"Yeah," Hubb found himself laughing.

"Really, what were you discussing, anyway?" Cher asked.

"Some of his drawings, actually. They were all wolves. And I said, 'this is really detailed, for being something you've never seen,' told him good job," Hubb shrugged, "I said that he was really imaginative and mentioned something about that despite the fact that they've been extinct for so long they still captivate the human mind like no other creature and then he knifed me,"

"Ah," Cher winced, "I get it now,"

"You do?" Hubb looked at his twin sister dumbly.

"Yeah. Tsume's always been really touchy about wolves for whatever reason,"

"Huh, wonder why,"

"Beats me,"

* * *

"You... knifed your guidance councilor in the face?" Mr. and Mrs. Stephens looked incredibly disappointed. Idiots. Is it really that much of a surprise?

"Look, I didn't knife him," I said angrily, "It's just, I'm not like you people,"

Mrs. Stephens put a gentle hand on my shoulder. I flinched away.

"You aren't like us. You're a traumatized kid who's seen a lot more than he should've had to, more than Giles and me put together" I rolled my eyes, "We couldn't possibly understand you. But we're willing to try," I blinked.

"You can't be serious,"

"Would you like to go to a different family?" Mr. Stephens.

I shook my head after a tense moment, "Naw. The last family was vegetarian. Don't want to risk that again," Mr. and Mrs. Stephens both laughed loudly, and I scowled to hide a smile.

* * *

Quent took a sip of vodka as Blue tackled the suspect to the ground.

"Good work, Blue,"

"Thanks, Pops,"

"Don't call me that. Makes me sound old,"

"You are old," Blue Aoie laughed, dragging the suspect to his feet.

"You really are scum, aren't you?" she asked, "Can't go around stealing people's possessions, now can you?"

"I steal food," the dark haired young man spat, "To feed my people!"

"B&E is still B&E," the teenager shrugged.

"Have you no pride in what you are?!" the thief demanded and Quent froze, suddenly curious. His young apprentice was reluctant to give any details about her past. She seemed a bit thrown off by the question, but she shook it off quickly enough.

"And look where pride got you. I value my life, thanks,"

"They won't kill me for stealing food,"

"Probably not, but you should've gotten a real job,"

"Like a common dog?" Quent saw that the young man was expecting a reaction other than the smile that stretched across Blue's face as she replied.

"Exactly like a dog," she pushed the man into the car's back seat, "To central booking?"

"Yeah," Quent laughed, shaking his head, "Sounds good. He's fetching quite a price for such a small fry,"

"Tell me about it, old man," Blue got in the passenger side as Quent took the wheel of the battered vehicle.

"Damn humans," Quent heard the dark haired man mutter.

"So, what's your name, mutt? We got eye witnesses saying that someone who matches your description was coming out of one of the raided houses, but we still don't got a name,"

"I am not a mutt!" the dark haired man yelled.

"I know," Blue smirked, "Just tell me the name," she waved her clip board.

"Kiba Sorensen," the man conceded after a moment of utter silence broken only by the sounds of the news on the radio.

"See, that wasn't so bad,"

Quent suppressed a laugh. He'd never been anywhere near as good at interrogation as his apprentice. She was born to be a bounty hunter. Quent Yaiden was merely good at it.


	3. Restlessness and Greed

_**Aaand chapter three! How about some reviews? **_

_**Disclaimer: I DON'T OWN WOLF'S RAIN!**_

* * *

Chapter 3

Restlessness and Greed

It was early when Hige heard Kiba's howl of distress coming from the prison, "Damn it! Kiba's in trouble!" he snarled.

"I told you not to get mixed up with a criminal," Toboe groaned, "Don't tell me that we're helping him out of this mess,"

"Of course we are!" Hige shouted angrily at his cousin, "He does so much for us!"

"He does it for all of the wolves. Why do we have to act?"

"Because we're good people, Toboe," Hige admonished, "We have to,"

Toboe closed his eyes, "Go if you want. Fine, Kiba's a nice guy."

It was all Hige needed to start running to the prison.

After a few tense moments of hiding from guards and ducking behind furniture, Hige had traced Kiba's scent.

"Kiba!" Kiba looked up, hair shadowing blue eyes.

"You came, Hige,"

"Yeah. Did you think I'd just leave you?"

"Sort of," Kiba said softly.

"You're pack," Hige said firmly, "I don't know why, but you are. It just seems right,"

"Yeah,"

"Now. Do you really need help getting out?"

"No,"

"Didn't think so," Hige leaned back as Kiba bent the bars with his jaws, "Do you promise to stay here?" Hige playfully asked the other inmates.

"What the hell are you people?!" someone said.

"Well, I guess it's a good thing that you're all just petty thieves. At least we aren't letting out any murderers," Hige joked and Kiba put a hand on his shoulder.

"Let's go,"

"Yeah!"

* * *

I gazed at my reflection, my white haired, tan skinned human face flickered with the appearance of my true form, "I see that you're as vain as ever," It seemed that the Stephen's son, Jared, was visiting. Jared was in his early to mid twenties and had mousy brown hair.

"Not vain. Just... reflecting,"

"Ha ha, very punny,"

"I didn't intend the pun,"

Dip shit.

"Yet here you are, staring at your reflection," Jared said, "Why do I have the sneaking suspicion that we're in some sort of cheesy, cliché, poorly written story?"

"Who knows. You seem to have a sneaking suspicion about many things. Maybe you should get that checked out," I shot back, pulling my too long hair into a loose pony tail. Some of the white strands fell across my face.

"I heard that you knifed your guidance councilor in the face,"

"For the last god damn time, I didn't knife him!"

"His face says otherwise," Jared pointed out, "You're really lucky that he didn't press charges,"

"I know," I closed my eyes.

"The incident is in all of the papers. I really don't know why my parents bother with you," Jared sighed.

"You know, neither do I," I replied truthfully, "What are you doing here, anyway?" I asked.

"Got a day off of work. Figured I'd come check on 'em,"

"Gotten soft in your old age?" I teased.

"Maybe," Jared shrugged, "But being soft is better than wearing leather pants. Can't you just wear black skinny jeans?"

I scowled and buttoned up my leather jacket.

"They're comfortable,"

"You dress all in leather. That can't be comfortable,"

"Like you, it's gotten soft with age," I snipped.

"Mmhm," Jared rolled his eyes.

"Oh leave me alone," I muttered, forcing down a disgusted growl. Humans were so frivolous. I walked to my room and shut the door.

I didn't, however, stay there long. I slid open the window and jumped to the tree and from there to the ground.

It was four gray paws that hit the grass.

It was good to drop my disguise. I kneaded the dirt beneath my paws and shook my fine puppy fur. I hadn't quite grown into myself yet, my paws were still over large and my fur still downy.

I rolled in the grass briefly, feeling the sun beat into my gray fur.

Wonderful.

I took off running, but I knew I'd be back. About once a week I went on a run like this, my true form proud in the moonlight. I usually did this at night, but today, I was too exhausted with humanity to wait another moment, so with the sun at it's peak, I ran as fast as could.

"Careful, furball!" I screeched to a halt, but not in time to avoid ramming into the brown haired teenager.

"What do you want, Porky?" I snarled. No one interrupts my run. He seemed taken aback.

"You're pleasant," he said sarcastically, "Just wanted to tell you to be careful, kid. You're just a puppy with no means of self defense and yet you're barreling around in your true form,"

"I... was just sick of being human. I do this once a week or so,"

"It's amazing you haven't been caught yet," the chubby wolf's dark haired companion said, "We must thank the moon and Paradise for your good fortune,"

"Oh shut up. I don't have time for idle fairytales,"

"Who ever said Paradise is an idle fairytale?"

"Only idiotic dreamers think that it isn't," I muttered, "Evidently you're one of those idiotic dreamers,"

"What're you doing with such a vocabulary, kid?" the porky one asked.

"I dunno. I have to go to human school, I might as well pay attention, so it isn't a total waste,"

"You sound like my human loving cousin,"

"I don't love humans," I sighed, "I'm just using 'em,"

And with that I turned around. There was something so startlingly familiar about those faces. It had ruined the joyful mood my run had brought on.

* * *

"Mr. Yaiden, Miss Aoie, I'm afraid that Mr. Sorensen escaped,"

"Damn it!" Blue hissed.

"So I take it that he needs to be caught again?" Quent questioned with distaste.

"I'm afraid so," the detention officer laughed.

"Damn. We still caught him once." Quent took a sip of vodka from his metal flask.

"But he remains free, the bounty grows ever higher and the competition to find him ever fiercer,"

Quent exchanged a greedy look with Blue. She grinned and nodded.

"I'm up for it!" she said, "Ready for a man hunt, Quent?"

"Oh yeah," Quent said, drinking more from the flask. The alcohol helped to steady his nerves.

* * *

The old woman sat in the back room of her flower shop, watching a growing shoot intently. There was something oddly human about the shoot's shape, though it was no taller than a rather large hand, "You'll be ready soon, my dear," the elderly woman rasped quietly, "Ready to seek out the wolves, as is your destiny."

The little sprout somehow seemed to nod. The old woman wasn't perturbed at all. In fact, she seemed almost gleeful.

* * *

_**And REVIEW! Please! Again, written on my phone, so sorry if the formatting sucks. I try to fix it a bit on the site itself, but I don't even bother to transfer my chapters to the computer. I just use the copy and paste option.**_

_**Ehehe.**_

_**Please reveiw.**_


	4. Dreams and Girls

_**Disclaimer: If I owned Wolf's Rain, would I be writing on this site? If I was making money off of this story, would I really be posting it on a free-to-access site? I don't think so. **_

_**Anyway, my lovelies, review! Big thank you to WargishBoromirFan, for being reviewer number one! And feel free to give harsh criticism, guys!**_

* * *

Fortunately, Once Again

Chapter Four

Dreams and Girls

That scent, accompanied by red, unseeing eyes. A gentleness, a bliss, unlike any I'd ever experienced. A howl, my howl, I recognized with a jolt, was ringing proudly in the air with the howls of the others as she danced. It was peace.

I didn't need it, I told myself stubbornly. I didn't want it, but still the flashes came. Still I saw her walk away as we all lay defeated. Who 'we' were, I wasn't sure.

My eyes closed as she ran her hands through my fur and stepped aboard that awful plane with that awful man.

Damn nobles, I found myself thinking, but I had no idea what that meant.

I awoke, jerking into a sitting position, but the scent didn't dissipate with the dream. It hung in the air, a reminder. It was faint, far way, but it was there. Now what exactly did it all mean?

At breakfast, I knew that I was being quieter than I should've been, but I couldn't shake the familiarity of the two wolves I'd run into the day before and the dream I'd had that night.

"Are you okay, Tsume?" Mrs. Stephens asked concernedly.

"Yeah," I muttered.

"Whatever you did to that poor guidance councilor is forgivable, you know," realizing my chance to get them off my back, I nodded slowly.

"Thanks," I said, letting them believe that the scars forming on Mr. Lebowski's face was the reason for my silence.

I toyed with the French toast, then bypassed it for the sausage. Jared looked at me with a raised eyebrow. He was the only one who knew that I had gone out yesterday, as he told me after I returned.

"Why are you still here, Jared dear?" Mrs. Stephens asked.

"My shift doesn't start till two," Jared shrugged, "Plus, I wanted to mooch breakfast off ya, mom."

While Mr. Stephens always made dinner, Mrs. Stephens always made breakfast. They alternated days for lunch. The arrangement was better than others I'd come across, and no matter what there was always enough food, so I was fairly satisfied.

Mrs. Stephens laughed, "Have you been feeding yourself right, Jared?"

"'Course, mom," Jared rolled his eyes and I carried my dishes to the kitchen after quietly excusing myself. I didn't know how long I could stand this... niceness. Jared seemed to sense my discomfort, because he followed me upstairs shortly after. I could smell his approach as I sat on my favorite perch on the window sill. I could smell his apprehension as he knocked.

"Come in," I said quietly, looking out the window at the squirrel climbing a tree on the far end of the yard.

"Can't get me here, bastard!" the squirrel laughed. I flipped it off.

"Are you deciding whether or not to commit suicide, or something?" Jared asked with the slightest traces of humor in his tone.

"Of course not," I bit back, "If I wanted to kill myself I would've done so already,"

"No need to bite my head off, kid," Jared raised his hands in submission, "Where did you go off to, yesterday? You've seemed unusually subdued since then,"

"I went on a jog," I said vaguely. It wasn't a lie.

"Must've been one hell of a jog," Jared commented and I found myself nodding. I cut my movement short and clamped my mouth shut.

There was no way in hell that I'd share my encounter with the strange wolves.

"Want to tell me what happened?"

"No," I said curtly.

"You sure?"

"Positive, I have... no need to share,"

"So something did happen?" I cursed, then decided to share the root of my current misery.

"Paradise is nothing but an unpleasant fairytale,"

Jared asked me what I meant, but I refused to provide him with an answer. He didn't deserve one. He shook his head and left the room.

"Stupid kid," I heard him say while walking down the stairs. I glared at the closed door, then jumped from my window.

Why the hell did I ever think that this foster care idea was a good one?

A crow landed on my human shoulder as I entered the park, "You seem pretty down today, Tsume,"

"Fuck off,"

"But why? Don't you like my company?" the bird put in. I glared at him.

"Obviously, I don't bird brain,"

"I take offense at your statement," I rolled my eyes and batted him from his perch. He merely flew around my head in dizzying circles.

"Beat it, bird," I shouted, throwing my sunglasses at him. The people sitting near me got up and moved away.

Eh. Those assholes had already been giving me odd glances. I merely looked at them and picked up my sunglasses from the ground.

"So you're Tsume, the one the crows are always gossiping about," a tall auburn haired teenager was sitting on the metal stage set up near where I was standing for the concerts the park sometimes held.

"What of it?"

"I hear you run with the humans," he got up and approached me. I squinted, the older boy was a red wolf.

"I don't run with 'em. I just use 'em,"

"Mmhm," The red wolf turned teenager looked momentarily disappointed and said, "So you mean to say you've never made any lasting bonds?"

"Of course not," I growled, disgusted, "Why in hell would I?" the older wolf looked somewhat hurt.

"I dunno. You're living with them,"

"Allowing an idiot to provide for me does not in any way equate a relationship,"

"Sure," the boy crossed his arms behind his head, "and it never gets lonely?"

I scoffed, "And what would you know about it?"

"I live with my cousin. If what the crows say is true, you're completely alone, kid,"

"Hey, aren't red wolves supposed to be shy," I asked of his startling directness, he shrugged sheepishly.

"What's your name, anyway?"

"Toboe," he said, "I'm waiting for my employer's granddaughter," he gestured to the bus stop on the edge of the park.

"I didn't ask you what you were doing here," I glowered, moving to the metal stage that Toboe had just vacated, the red wolf sat down next to me and I scooted away, "I can't believe anyone trusts public transportation, these days,"

"Why shouldn't they?" I raised an eyebrow at his question, "Why are you looking at me like I've grown a second tail?"

"The machines are breaking down," I said with a shocked half laugh, "The busses have been stopping, and there's been increased violence on the lines," Toboe looked somewhat surprised.

"Oh, I didn't know about that," I closed my eyes. Oh shoot me now. I was just about to leave when the bus pulled up and a dark haired girl exited.

"Hey, Leara!" Toboe went running to meet her, "Mrs. Armstrong asked me to meet you today!" I closed my eyes and laid back on the stage, feeling the uncomfortably warm sun and burning metal baking me through my leather clothes. I could hear Toboe rambling on and on about "Mrs. Anderson's" rheumatism.

Jeez, what was wrong with that guy? I could tell that he was really attached to this Mrs. Anderson woman, and it made me feel kinda sick.

"Tsume!" I heard my name being called as I walked back home. I turned and sighed.

"What is it, Gehl?" I snapped.

"Is it true that you maimed the principal?" my red haired classmate asked curiously.

"I did not maim the principal," I sighed.

"Then, if you aren't suspended, why aren't you at school?"

"I never said that I wasn't suspended. I just didn't maim the principal,"

"Then what did you do? Don't skirt around the question!" I sent him a dull glance.

"I... gave the guidance councilor a nasty scratch," I relented.

"Really, Mr. Lebowski?" he looked up at me eagerly, and I glared at my classmate.

"Whadya think, kid?"

"You're no older than I am, don't call me a kid!"

"I'll call you what ever I like, kid," I shoved him away and scowled as he stumbled. He sent me a long, sad look before shoving his hands into his pockets and walking off.

Damn humans, who needs 'em?

* * *

Hige was tearing into a burger at lunch, thinking. He'd had this strange dream, and he griped about it to Jacoby, a cynical human who seemed to hate the world and everything in it.

"Look, Hige, I really don't care about your dreams concerning hot chicks," the boy sighed, "You have one every other night,"

"This was different!" Hige insisted, "She wasn't my type at all, and she... was conservatively dressed,"

"You... are... so perverted, you know that?" the human girl sitting across from him remarked.

"Yeah, Sally, we all know that," Hige dismissed.

"Wait you had a dream about a fully clothed girl?!" Jacoby jumped up in alarm, "Maybe this is serious..."

"Oh stuff it," Hige shot, "She was wearing a skin tight body suit-"

"Oh never mind. It isn't too odd, then,"

"-And a conservatively cut red dress,"

"Shit..." Sally whispered, putting a concerned hand on his forehead, "Do you have a fever?"

"I don't have a fever," Hige batted away Sally's hand, irritated at his friends' mocking disbelief, "I'm serious guys! The dream was fucking weird!"

And he couldn't even tell them the weirdest part, about how she stroked his thick fur and walked away, leaving Hige and the others, who reminded him oddly of Toboe and Kiba, bleeding in the snow. He couldn't tell them of howling at the moon, her singing mingling with the voices of him and the others creating something otherworldly and beautiful, "It seemed like she was in some sort of trouble. This guy was after her,"

"So it was a 'save the damsel in distress' type dream," Sally looked disgusted.

"No!" Hige shouted, "You know what, never mind. Neither of you get it,"

He finished his burger then put his tray away, "I'm going to the library for the rest of lunch,"

In his indignant anger, Hige didn't notice the worried glance that Sally and Jacoby exchanged.


	5. The Opposite of Tempting

_**Y**_**o, minna! It's a new chapter! Sorry it's taken so long to post, I ran into a bit of writer's block and I've also been... busy, I guess. A friend of mine has been out of school for four months due to a migraine, and my grandmother has cancer. I also now have quite possibly the shortest hair at my school (this includes the guys) because I got a buzz cut to support my grandma's chemo efforts. Anyway, I've been busy. But here's chapter five for ya, finally! Again, sorry for the wait. PLEASE REVEIW! And reveiw honestly. If you absolutely abhor my writing, please don't be afraid to tell me so and exactly why. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Wolf's Rain. I am simply a teenaged otaku whomakes no money whatsoever from the production of this FANfiction.**

* * *

Fortunately, Once Again

Chapter Five

The Opposite of Tempting

* * *

The Hanabito sat quietly listening to the flowers around her. In her lap sat a potted plant that was quite possibly the most peculiar plant in the shop.

The green sprout that she had so carefully tended was growing, and changing color. The sprout's main body was turning into a color eerily similar to pale Caucasian skin, and the tufts of young flowers near the top were turning a light purple. It now had two sprigs that extended laterally, it was now almost as tall as the Hanabito's forearm, and it was looking remarkably human. Hanabito Tia was very pleased with her work.

* * *

There was an unfamiliarly familiar scent in the air, and slowly Kiba awoke. Toboe and Hige had allowed him to crash at their little coach house, so for a moment he dismissed the smell as a component of the house he hadn't noticed before, but in the window a female figure was crouching.

"Hello, Sorensen," Kiba looked at her cooly.

"Miss Aoie,"

"Pops really wants to catch you," she remarked quietly, "That bounty on your head just goes up and up,"

Kiba growled lowly, "So why haven't you tackled me yet?"

"'Cause I'm kinda tempted to give you a head start,"

"Oh really?" Kiba asked in deriding disbelief, "Of all the wolves in Desert City, you want to help me,"

"Not at all. I want to make it more of a challenge," The bounty hunter was grinning and Kiba resisted the urge to sigh.

"You catch me, you get money. Why would you want to make it harder?"

"Well, I partly just want an excuse to leave this city, and Pops has too many memories here to do it without a little prompting,"

"Just leave without him then,"

"I... can't. Traveling with him just seems... right. Besides he ain't got much left here. I wanna do him a favor by getting him out," she shrugged, "Even if I have to pull him by the ears," she looked mildly surprised at herself and finished with a groaning, "I can't believe I just told you that,"

"Hey, Kiba," Hige barged into the room, "I thought I smelled something odd and came to investigate," he then saw Blue and gasped. Kiba could see the brief recognition in his eyes. So he wasn't the only one who felt a sense of familiarity. Hige recovered quickly, however and exclaimed, "What a babe! Aw, Kiba, you get all the luck!"

"Well, technically, I'm trying to arrest him," Blue pointed out.

"A hot babe is trying to put you in handcuffs?!" Hige excitedly demanded, "I'm even more jealous!" Kiba sighed, wondering why he was friends with the gluttonous wolf in the first place.

"Really, Porky?" Blue asked, crossing her arms. Hige sent her a look.

"How'd ya know that was my nickname?"

"Dunno. Maybe just 'cause it suits you so well," despite her casually teasing huff, Kiba saw the surprised recognition in the young bounty hunter's eyes too, "You've heard my warning, Sorensen. You might wanna get out of town within the next few days. Pops is on a drinking binge, so he'll be hungover tomorrow. I'd suggest leaving then," Blue sent one last lingering look at Hige and leapt from the window. After a moment Kiba felt Hige's amber eyes on him. He turned to meet the gaze.

"Where do we know her from?" the chubby wolf asked quietly, "She was so familiar,"

And although he rarely spoke, it was also a rare occasion that Kiba had nothing whatsoever to say. This was one of those rare occasions.

* * *

Gehl and I were sitting on the bleachers in the park, legs swinging. Gehl had a hot dog in one hand and an iPod in the other. He was blaring the music in his earbuds, and it wouldn't have surprised me to discover that even humans could hear each note clearly. It was the sort of music that I strongly disliked, but I didn't dare say anything. I wanted him to grovel at my feet in awe of my awesomeness, not cower at my paws in fear of my superhuman abilities.

A crow was once again on my shoulder, but let it stay and opted to simply ignore it's mindless chatter, "Why do crows always follow you around Tsume?" I shrugged in response and the crow squawked in protest at the unwanted movement. He flew to my head.

"Shit on my hair crow, and you're dead," it moved back to my shoulder.

"That was odd," Gehl wrinkled his nose in confusion, "It was almost like that crow could understand you," the crow twittered in laughter and I scowled.

"Mmhm," I grunted, "I'm sure it's glad for that. I wasn't kidding about killing it," Gehl looked at me in surprise, "I dunno if it would taste all that great, but probably better than a hot dog."

"Really?" Gehl looked decidedly queasy, "A crow?"

"Provided it wasn't cooked," I shrugged, then cursed myself as I noticed his skin turning a lovely shade of green. I huffed, "I was kidding," I reassured, even though I really wasn't.

"Hey! Tsume!" I heard from across the park. I looked up. Damn.

"Whatdaya want, Runt?" I bit out harshly. Toboe raised an eyebrow, "You're the runt, kid. And my name is Toboe,"

"Whatever. Doesn't change the nature of my question,"

"Kiba's in trouble, so we're getting outta here. I was wondering if you wanted to come,"

I rolled my eyes.

"I have a life here. Why would I want to leave it?"

"Groveling at the feet of humans you don't even like counts as a life?" the black haired boy on Toboe's left asked with a derisive snort. I noticed with a start that it was the same boy I'd ran into a few days earlier.

"Shut it, mongrel," I tilted my head toward Gehl.

"Are you ashamed of what you are?"

"You wish," I glared, angrily shoving a white strand of hair behind my ear, "Get outta here, Gehl. I'll deal with these fuck rags,"

Gehl nodded and swallowed the rest of his hot dog. I shoved him, "I said get outta here!" he gave a frightened whimper and broke into a run. I sent him a satisfied nod and turned to look at the three wolves before me, "So why do you want me to come?" I asked slowly.

Porky shrugged and Toboe awkwardly rubbed the back of his head, "There are five other wolves in this city. Why not ask one of them?" the dark haired one sent me an exasperated look and Toboe huffed.

"Because as nice as they are, none of them feel..." the auburn haired red wolf trailed off, seemingly searching for the right word.

"Like pack," The white furred wolf interjected on Toboe's behalf.

"Well I don't need no stinking pack," I waved a dismissive hand and turned from them. These stupid fucktards didn't have anything I needed, anything I wanted. Or at least that's what I told myself.


	6. Damn Drawing

_**A new chapter has arrived! Also, this weekend my roller derby team went to a huge tournament. We played two bouts and lost both by about a hundred. But the last time we played one of those teams, we lost by about seven hundred, so we're getting better. I threw a fit at one of the coaches because she was benching the new girl way too much. Now I need to go soak my sore muscles!**_

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Wolf's Rain, I am in no way affiliated in the publishing or translation of the previously mentioned works nor do I make any money from this free to read**** FANfiction.**

_**To those who read, I truly hope you **_**REVIEW!**

* * *

Fortunately, Once Again

Chapter Six

Damn Drawing

* * *

Toboe slouched as he and his cousin shopped around town. He and Hige (at his own insistence) were gathering supplies for their oncoming journey.

He was slightly bitter at Kiba, for getting them all in trouble for harboring a criminal, but he tried to face these new challenges with a smile. As he haggled the price of a map, he thought of Tsume. He really pitied the kid, pitied him for being all alone. Everyone deserved someone.

"Come on, Coz! We have our noses, what do we need a map for?" Hige griped, and Toboe shot a glare at him before placing a fairly small amount of money into the shop keepers hand.

"Thank you, sir," Toboe flashed a smile and stowed the map in a side pocket of his messenger bag away from the parcels of dried meats and other nonperishable goods. Seeing the large amount of food in the bag the shop keeper started.

"Just how far are you boys going? That much food could feed an army!"

"As far as we need to get to paradise," Toboe said with a soft smile. He saw Hige facepalm.

"If it even exists," Toboe's younger cousin said with a snort, "Our friend just wants to get outta Desert City, and he's obsessed with a legend,"

"Well, I dunno. Kiba might be right," Toboe protested.

"Figures, the one thing you like about Kiba is the one thing that kinda bugs me,"

"Well, what ever it is you're searching for, good luck. It's even hotter outside the dome, y'know," the shop keeper warned, laughing at their exchange.

"Yeah," Hige said, opening the door to the shop, "We'll deal,"

Toboe gave the shopkeeper one last nod before following his cousin out.

* * *

Hubb tentatively knocked on the door to the Stevens household. The gashes on his face had scabbed over, but they were still covered in gauze. He thought it somewhat important to talk to Tsume, now that he wasn't so angry at the kid. After a moment of waiting, the door opened. The man who opened the door was probably only a few years younger than himself, "Erm... I'm looking for Tsume Cantrell?" Hubb muttered.

"Tsume?" the guy asked, surveying the bandages, "Sure. You the councilor he knifed?"

"Uh, yeah..."

"Hey, TSUME!" the man shouted,

"What?" came the exasperated reply, as the strangely colored boy walked down the stairs.

"Mr. Lebowski wants to talk to you,"

"Of course," Tsume rolled his eyes, "you'd think he'd learn to keep his distance,"

"Hey, Tsume," Hubb waved awkwardly.

"What do you want?"

"Can I come in?"

"Sure," Tsume shrugged.

"Hey, I gotta get to work, so do you mind if I just leave the two of you here?" the man said.

"I'm not going to claw his face again, Jared. I don't need constant supervision," the young man nodded and walked out of the door with a wave, "Do you want anything to eat or drink, Lebowski?" Tsume asked.

"Erm... water would be nice..." Hubb said, made somewhat nervous by Tsume's sudden thoughtfulness. He sat quietly as Tsume pulled down two glasses and poured water from a filtered pitcher.

"Can't be too careful about your water these days," Tsume commented and Hubb grunted in wordless agreement before taking the glass from Tsume's outstretched hand, "So why are you here?"

"I figured that we should talk," Hubb said quietly, flinching away from the white haired boy's amber gaze.

"What about?" Tsume asked.

"I dunno. I just figured we should," Hubb replied with a shrug.

"Look, Lebowski. I'm sorry 'bout your face, but what is the purpose of this visit?"

"Remember that cool drawing? Well you left it in my office. I wanted to bring it,"

Hubb carefully passed the drawing over to the ten year old, who froze.

"They look exactly like..." he trailed off and angrily crumpled the paper in a ball and tossed it on the ground. Hubb's muscles tensed in alarm at the sudden display.

"I want to know why you feel so strongly about wolves," Hubb pressed.

"I hate that what everyone says is just government sanctioned bullshit," Tsume grumbled, "Is there anything else you want?" the kid demanded. Hubb shook his head slowly, he wanted to press further, but found himself reluctant to do so.

"Nah."

"Well then, get lost," Hubb watched the ten year old retreat up the stairs and stood. He bent down and picked up the drawing. It really was a cool picture, he thought. It pictured five running wolves. One was a red wolf, one a Mexican wolf, the one at the front of the pack was an Arctic wolf, the one right behind it was gray, and the final one was black.

There was something so familiar about this scene, but Hubb couldn't put his figure on it. After smoothing out the wrinkles in the paper and folding it, Hubb carefully tucked it in his pocket and left the Stevens/Cantrell house.

* * *

I was sitting on my windowsill, trembling when Mr. and Mrs. Stevens came home. It was that damned drawing. I hadn't met any of those boys yet at the time, but the drawing was close to exact, plus one. A knock sounded at my door. I sniffed the air. Mrs. Stevens. I decided to ignore the knock. She'd come in regardless of what I said. Sure enough, despite my silence, the door creaked open.

"Tsume?" she called. I didn't reply. She evidently noticed that something was wrong, for her next words were to question exactly what was.

"It's nothing," I bit out. Paralee flinched.

"Well, it's certainly something," she pressed.

I cursed internally. For an old human, the woman had an irritating amount of gumption.

"It's just some guys I met recently," I decided to give her a fraction of the truth. Her face displayed surprise and then anger.

"If anyone's giving you any trouble, Tsume-"

"It's not that!" I cut her off.

"Then just what about them bothers you?" she asked, voice rising. I decided that half truths could go to hell.

"They're so familiar, and I can't put my finger on why."

"And that scares you?" she questioned and I glared at her. She put her hands up, gesturing for peace, "If you decide to spill, you can talk to me. I'm sure Giles and Jared wouldn't mind helping you out, either," she turned away and walked out of my room, shutting the door behind her. I sent one long look at the unmoving knob before jumping from the window, relieved to feel the dried grass through the holes in my boots.


	7. A Journey Bourne From Ashes

**Hey, sorry for the long wait, I've had a lot to do, and this chapter just did not want to be written. On awesomer news, I got a job! And I'm almost done with the first draft of my first original fiction novel! Anyway, school's starting again soon, so that means boredom and procrastination on school work, which means I write more. **

**Disclaimer: I am in no way affiliated with the creators or translators of Wolf's Rain, nor do I make any money from posting this free to read fan work. I thank you profusely for not sueing me. **

* * *

Chapter Seven

A Journey Bourne from Ashes

* * *

After my walk (which was cut short by Ghel pestering me), I went back to the house. Mrs. Stevens watched me anxiously during dinner, and Mr. Stevens picked up on it.

"What's up with Tsume?" I overheard Giles ask Paralee after I went up to my room.

"He's having trouble with these guys. He says that they're familiar and he doesn't know why,"

"Could they be his real family? Often people forget traumatic events. Perhaps they abused him," Giles whispered in reply. I sighed, unsure if my sensitive hearing was a good thing to be utilizing in this instance or not. I figured why the hell not listen in. The assholes shouldn't be talking about my problems anyway.

It's none of their business.

I decided to put them in their place and exited my room, heading towards the kitchen, "I remember everything from about the time my eyes opened. I have snatches of memories from before that. Like any other person," I told them, crossing my arms. I felt a rush of satisfaction as they jumped, "I don't have any memory of these guys. In any case, I was never abused,"

"Then why are you in foster care?" Paralee asked, tilting her head, "They don't have any record of what happened to you before,"

"My parents died shortly after my eyes opened. I was homeless, finding food was a problem, so I swallowed my pride and turned to social services," the Stevens seemed slightly horrified by my even and apathetic tone. I shrugged.

"That's awful," Paralee said.

"It's normal. Happens a lot these days, at least to kids like me,"

"Kids like... you?"

"Yeah. Like me," I heard a pounding at the door and took a long whiff of theair, "Damn it!" I shouted, but opened the front door nonetheless."Tsume, we're leaving," Toboe said.

"Yeah you've told me," I snorted.

"Look, kid. My cousin, for whatever reason, wants you to come with."

"I don't want to come with, Porky,"

"His name's Hige. Mine's Kiba," the dark haired boy said angrily.

"Go on your little adventure! Have fun, and leave me out of it!" I shouted in his face. Paralee and Giles were frozen behind me.

"Are these the boys, Tsume?" Paralee questioned softly.

"Yeah. Now get the hell outta this place!" I shouted at them.

"Tsume," Toboe pleaded, "can't you feel it?"

"Feel what?" I asked, eyes narrowing and arms finding their usual position. Crossed.

"You have to come with us! It just feels right!"

"You people are insane. Going by feeling," I scoffed, "will only get you killed,"

"Are you a wolf or not, kid?" Kiba demanded, "You're in all the papers, what with clawing that human's face. And you're the only thing the crows can ever talk about,"

"Wolf?" Giles asked cautiously. I gave him a brusque nod. They were bound to find out about it sooner or later.

"I am, Kiba."

"Then have you no pride?!"

"At least I don't steal, Mr. Food Thief!" I growled, recalling reading of his oh so noble endeavors, "I'm not the only one in all the papers, Sorensen,"

"Better that than grovel at the humans' feet like a common dog," Hige was the one that spoke this time.

"Just what is going on?" Paralee demanded, hand on her hip.

"Come with us," Toboe said, "You know I love humans, and even I understand that we can't live among them forever,"

"We have to find our own place," Kiba added.

"Not Paradise again," I sneered condescendingly.

"What is going on?" Paralee repeated.

"I'm arguing with a bunch of fools who believe in a pup's fairytale." I explained shortly.

"Please, Tsume," Toboe tried again, he let the illusion slip and bowed low, muzzle touching his paws, "please," he said again.

"What the hell?" Giles muttered, eyes wide. Paralee's hands clenched into fists. The other's too dropped their illusions.

"We can't live with the humans much longer."

"We need a place just for wolves. We need to find Paradise."

"Even if you don't believe in it, just come along for the ride. That's what I'm doing,"

I too, finally let my human guise slip. I was smaller than any of them, but I held my head high.

"Come," Toboe said.

My head fell along with my resolve.

"Fine," I broke their gaze and ran up the stairs, Paralee and Giles at my heels.

"What's happening,"

"I guess I'm going with them," I said with a slight scowl, angry that they'd broken my resolve, "they're right,"

"What are they right about?" Paralee asked.

"Do you even see me right now?" I asked, having not switched back to human. I looked at my paws and cursed, "I need opposable thumbs," I pulled on the human guise.

"Oh. Right," Paralee whispered faintly, "No wonder you're so defensive of wolves," she tittered nervously.

"Holy..." Giles seemed to be having trouble forming the phrase.

"Shit is the word you're looking for, Mr. Stevens," I supplied lightly, "Holy shit."

"You... don't have to leave, you know," Paralee pitched. I glanced at her as I dumped the contents of my school backpack onto the bed.

"I think Mr. Lebowski's face is testament to the opposite," Paralee winced. I ignored it, pulled my 'treasure box' from it's hiding place in the closet and shoved it into the bag. I scanned the room. Was there anything else I had to bring? I saw my sketchpad on the bedside table, opened it. I pulled out a drawing I'd done of Paralee, Giles, and Jared and pushed it into Paralee's hand before stuffing the notebook into my bag. I grabbed my box of pencils and smudgers as well as a sharpener. A kneaded eraser in the otherwise empty pill bottle I kept it in, too landed into the shadowy depth of my bag. I groaned realizing the Eraser-in-Pill-Bottle had probably sunk to the bottom.

"You're really... leaving?" Giles blustered for the correct wording. I gave the elderly couple a sharp nod.

"Yeah," I stuffed a metal water bottle into my bag. Always best to be prepared, "I don't belong here and you know it."

"You could!" Paralee insisted quietly.

"No. Me living with humans is about as ideal as the equator is ideal for a polar bear," I decided not to acknowledge the fact that the equator of the planet was too hot for anybody these days, temperatures sometimes soaring into the two hundreds. I also ignored the fact that even the poles were too warm for the now almost extinct polar bears. There was only about fifty left, and only ever in zoos. Heaving a sigh, I shoved open the window, slinging the bag onto my shoulder.

I looked back at my foster family and gave them the briefest of nods before leaping from the window frame to the horrified shrieks of Paralee. She rushed to the window. I waved.

"H-how," I heard her mutter, "how is he not dead from that fall?"

I snorted.

It was only a second story window. The other three wolves hadn't returned to their human illusions, I saw as they joined me. The red brown wolf I knew to be Toboe gently butted his head into my hip, and I found myself hard pressed not to smile.

And now we can return to the old Hanabito Tia, who carefully uprooted the flower she so carefully tended. The flower was now the size of a petite teenaged girl, and if one were to look at her, they would never have guessed at the sap that flowed through her veins. As the Hanabito pulled her from the pot (standing on a chair to give her the height she needed for leverage), the girl's eyes snapped open before closing again. She sagged to the floor and the roots that grew from her feet retracted into the flesh that was made up of hard, rigid, plant cells regardless of their color. Perhaps if one looked closely, they'd see the the ever so slight green tinge in her skin caused by the chlorophyll in her cells, but even with that the girl radiated health and beauty- in a way that would make anyone who worked with her want to pull their hair out. She was too perfect to be real, and though Hanabito Tia eventually decided on the name 'Cheza,' she'd been sorely tempted to dub her with the moniker 'Mary-Sue.'

And with that, Hanabito Tia hauled Cheza to the curb outside before setting her flower shop on fire, locking herself within.

Perhaps it was selfish, setting the young, unconscious Cheza with the title Hanabito, but Tia was too tired to think of anyone other than herself.

Cheza could save the world. Tia didn't want anything to do with it. So the old Hanabito sang softly with a voice that belonged to one sixty years younger as the flames engulfed her own plant based body.

* * *

**Review if you want to live. Please, I'd really love some feedback. I'malways freaking out over Tsume, I hate writing characters like him in first person.**


	8. Events Following a Departure

**Hey, here's chapter eight! I hope you all enjoy it, and I am sorry to announce that my mother is going to take away my phone for a while (undetermined time limit) in the next few weeks. That means fewer updates, because I write and post from my phone. I will soon be limited to writing on my shit laptop and posting from the public library.**

**Also, sorry if this chapter is shit, my guinea pig died at 4:27 A.M. Saturday morning. I'd been up all night trying to save her life. Nothing worked. Anyway, tell me what you think. I need critisim if I want to improve.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Wolf's Rain, nor am I in anyway affiliated with it's creation or translation. I don't make any money posting this free to read fan work.**

* * *

Chapter Eight

Events Following a Departure

* * *

Cher Lebowski had a headache that wasn't going away no matter how much coffee she drank. In the span of a single night, Tsume Cantrell ran away and she'd been assigned to this girl named Cheza Hanabito, who'd been found passed out in front of a burning flower shop with a note pinned to her pale pink body suit.

Apparently she was the daughter of the flower shop owner, Tia Hanabito, who had decided that lighting the shop on fire would be a wonderful way to commit suicide. The note actually said that the girl's name was Cheza, and that she was the last and most perfect of the Hanabito, but whoever decided these things decided to put Hanabito as the girl's surname on her files - despite Cher's sneaking suspicion that it was actually a title.

Cheza also point blank refused to respond to 'Miss Hanabito,' and steadfastly answered only to her given name.

To make matters worse, Cheza was blind and had no knowledge of Braille whatsoever. She was also eerily familiar in the same way Tsume Cantrell had been. It seemed as though what ever sentient being ruled the universe wanted to make Cher's job (life) harder.

Cher sagged in her chair, "Okay, Cheza. Did your mother ever display signs of depression before?"

"This One would not know, Miss Degre. This One was only just created," Degre? What?

"My name's Cher Lebowski, Cheza. Why did you think it was Degre?"

"Oh This One doesn't know," Cheza said lightly, but by the light in her sightless red eyes, Cher could tell that the words weren't exactly the truth. She sighed.

"Okay. I've got a few papers here for you to fill out. Just tell me what you want me to put and I'll fill it out for you,"

"Thank you, Mrs. Lebowski,"

Mrs?

"I'm not married, never have been, never plan to," A look of understanding crossed Cheza's face.

"Of course. This One should have known."

Known?

"It's fine. You couldn't have," Cher sighed again. What was with this chic? Cheza seemed unsure of that but reluctantly nodded, "Okay. Date of birth?"

Cheza sighed patiently, "This One wasn't born. This One was uprooted just yesterday," Cher sighed and put yesterday's date with a year from around sixteen years before on the paper. She doubted she was going to get a proper answer.

"So, Cheza, tell me a bit about yourself. We'll be working together till you turn eighteen, so..." a look of sadness crept into Cheza's face.

"Oh, This One doubts that she'll live that long," Cher nearly dropped her coffee cup.

What?

"That's only around three years from now!" Cher protested, "Of course you'll live that long!"

"It depends," Cheza sighed, smiling softly, "Last time, This One's life was as fleeting as the flower it was derived from," Cher found tears prickling her eyes, and memories nudging at the innermost edges of her mind.

"It was," she found herself saying, though she had no idea why, "And it wasn't fair," Cheza's soft smile broadened and her hand covered Cher's.

"Neither was your untimely demise," and Cher remembered the feeling of cold creeping into her body.

She remembered the frozen tundra in which her ex-husband (who would one day be her baby brother) gently gripped her shoulders, she remembered the way he begged for her to stay with him, and she remembered the icy bliss that enveloped her, surrounded by the man she'd always love (even if it wouldn't always be in a romantic sense), the blind lunar flower girl who'd stolen her life and remade her destiny, and the wolves who would always be so wrapped up in it all.

She closed her eyes against the muddled memories. She didn't remember it all, buy what she could recall was enough.

"It's happening again, isn't it?" she asked flatly.

Cheza nodded.

"Indeed. This One again must call upon the wolves," Cher sighed, and hardened her resolve.

"In which case, I'll help," Cheza beamed.

"This One knew that you would!" Cher smiled.

This whole ordeal might have been hellacious, but it sure as hell had answered her questions.

I sighed as I followed Toboe and the others in exiting the dome. Standing on a building behind us stood a black furred wolf dog in human skin. She was waving merrily.

"We'll be after you soon, Sorensen!" she called, "I just have to persuade Pops to leave town!"

"You'll never catch us!" Hige shot back.

"I wasn't talking to you, Porky!" the obvious mutual attraction between the two wolves made me want to retch. I was still in the girls-are-somewhat-gross faze of life.

"Save the affectionate displays for when you're not in public, okay?" I growled.

"Affection?" the wolf dog asked with a laugh, "for that pork chop?"

I ignored her inquiry as well as Hige's playfully offended glance and started running faster, shedding my human skin and falling into step beside Kiba who was also running as a wolf.

They were right.

Running together like this just felt... natural.

It was two in the morning when Hubb Lebowski got a phone call from his sister.

"Tsume ran away," she said tiredly.

"What?" Hubb shrieked, forgetting for a moment that he lived in an apartment building and that his neighbors didn't particularly like being woken up in the dead of night.

"You heard me, baby bro," she sighed tiredly. Hubb could picture her tiredly pushing blonde hair from her eyes.

"Damn," he cursed quietly.

"That about sums up the situation," Cher agreed, "I also got assigned to this new girl, Cheza," she said and Hubb felt a rush of fear in his chest.

"Cheza..." he said contemplatively, "The name so familiar."

"Hm," Cher mumbled, and Hubb felt her reluctance to approach the subject of familiarity.

"Wonder why," Hubb murmured.

"How should I know?" Cher snapped. Hubb could tell just from the inflections in her voice that the words were a lie. Cheza was separating them again, he knew it.

The rational portion of his mind questioned his wording. Again? What on Earth did that mean?

Hubb ignored it and hung up after a hasty farewell. He was too tired for this shit.


	9. Meetings and Correspondence

Aaand chapter nine. We draw ever closer to the tenth chapter, which very much excites me. REVIEW!

Disclaimer: I do not own Wolf's Rain or am in any way affiliated with it's creation, publication, or translation. I also MAKE NO MONEY from the production of this FREE TO READ fanfiction.

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Chapter Nine

Meetings and Correspondence

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Quent Yaiden was somewhat annoyed with his apprentice.

He actually spit out some of his whiskey. Blue wiped it off of her face, "You gave Sorensen a head start?" Quent yelled.

"You need to get out of here, and I didn't. Not properly. I just told him you'd be after him soon," Blue shrugged, "It wasn't my fault that you were too hung over to move at the time."

Quent ground his teeth together and replenished the whiskey that had escaped from his mouth, "I can't believe you," he muttered.

"I do have more information for you," Blue offered, "he's traveling with three other boys."

"Do you know their names and descriptions?"

"Better," Blue smirked, "I have the school I.D. photos of two of 'em."

"Oh, really?" Quent inquired, brows shooting into his hairline.

"I don't have a photo of the eldest, Toboe Armstrong, but I do have the photo of his younger cousin, Hige Armstrong," she passed him a photograph of a handsome -if somewhat porky- teenaged boy. He had a devil-may-care sort sort of smile and messy brown hair, "And this is the youngest of the group, Tsume Cantrell."

Quent examined the second photo. This boy was the opposite of the first, his smile was forced, polite, and his odd white hair neatly combed back into a low ponytail.

"Both the younger Armstrong and the Cantrell kid are seeing their respective school councilors," Blue continued briskly, passing him a scrap of paper.

"Here are their names and phone numbers."

Quent read the scrap of paper.

Adrian Morrisey

Hubb Lebowski

"Thanks, Blue," Quent said, the girl nearly redeemed in his eyes. She flashed him a bright smile.

"No problem, Pops."

* * *

Cher sighed, looking over her copy of the paperwork.

"You're actually gonna foster a kid yourself?" came the surprised voice of Molly Morrisey, a coworker of the blonde caseworker.

"Yeah," Cher sighed.

"Why?" Molly asked confusedly, "You've never done this in the past," she crossed her arms, "and I really thought you might foster that one Cantrell kid, seeing as you had such a difficult time placing him."

"Look, I owe the girl a debt," Cher said, effectively cutting Molly off. The woman was probably just more confused.

"A d-debt?" but Cher didn't deign to answer the red haired woman's inquiry.

The truth would probably fry the poor woman's brain. Hell, it was still frying Cher's, and the blonde liked to think herself much more intelligent than Molly. She wasn't -by much, anyway- but, she was more open to possibility, which probably just amounted to the same thing. She rested her forearms on Molly's desk.

"Look, have you got all the paperwork in the system?" Cher demanded.

Molly looked at the blonde reproachfully over her purple reading glasses.

"Of course I've got it all in," the redhead crossed her arms, "I'm the fastest cubicle zombie in all of

Desert City."

"So I'm good to go?"

"Yes," Molly stated, "So why don't you?"

"Hey, I didn't mean to insult you," Cher protested.

Molly dismissively waved a bony hand, "Get Cheza settled in."

Cher nodded, "You'll tell our supervisor where I am in a way that won't make her want to fire me?"

"Of course," Molly smiled.

"Thanks, Morrisey!"

Later that night, she sat on the bed in her spare bedroom, Watching Cheza count the steps between the door and her bed, the bed and the ajoining bathroom, the bathroom and the wardrobe.

"How do you like it?"

"This One likes it very much. The furnishings are well placed for This One's needs," Cher inclined her head, smiling, before she remembered that Cheza couldn't see the gesture.

"I'm glad," she said, standing, "I'm going to hit the sack. If you need anything, my room is about twelve paces to the right of yours,"

"Thank you, Miss Lebowski," Cheza said so softly that Cher almost didn't hear it.

"Please, call me Cher."

Cheza inclined her head and Cher was somewhat surprised to see the lone similarity between Cheza's physical idiosyncrasies and her own. She shook her head and exited the room.

* * *

Hubb was in his office at the elementary school when his door burst open. He didn't recognize the man or girl who entered, but decided not to call security or do anything else that could be construed as rash and stupid.

"You Lebowski?" A gruff voice sounded from the elderly male.

"Er, yeah," Hubb replied.

"Good. That means my apprentice isn't a total fuck up,"

"Errr," Hubb then heard the alto voice of the young woman at his side. The voice was angry, but in a mocking, playful sort of way.

"Hey, Pops, what the hell?"

"Why are you here?" Hubb interjected.

"I'm Quent Yaiden, a bounty hunter, y'see," said the old man.

"A bounty hunter? What's that got to do with me?"

"Well I'm looking for one Kiba Sorensen," Quent elaborated.

"The food thief?" Hubb inquired, "I still don't see how I could help with that."

"I've reason to believe that he's traveling with one Tsume Cantrell."

That caused any protest in Hubb's throat to die where it was.

"Tsume? Tsume's involved with the food thief?"

"Seems like it."

"So that's what was bothering him!"

"Huh?"

"Well, he'd seemed upset about something that last two times I saw him," Hubb explained, "The first of those two times, he nearly cut my face off," Hubb gestured to three parallel gashes in his face.

"That is going to scar," the girl winced.

"And you are?"

"Blue Aoie," the girl replied, "The old man's apprentice.

"The one who isn't a total fuck up?"

"That's the one," Blue smiled wryly.

Hubb was bit weirded out by Blue's appearance. She looked all together too young for this sort of thing.

"So, do you know anything?" Quent interjected.

"Nah, sorry," Hubb answered ruefully.

"Aw, you useless piece of shit."

"Hey!"

The old man ignored the young and tromped out of the room, an amused and slightly apologetic apprentice at his heels.

Hubb sighed, and pulled out his phone as he heard and felt it buzzing in his back pocket. It was a text from his older sister.

_Can you meet me at Ric's Cafe? I want you to meet Cheza._

Hubb smiled.

_Of course, sis_.

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So, I'm sure y'allz can see how this connects to the original anime timeline. At this point, I'm done establishing the connections between past and present life character wise. The main cast is all obvious, but I hope you picked up on the more minor ones, such as the origins of Paralee and Giles.

Hanabito Tia might be tricky because she's a combination of both a character from the anime and a different character from the (somewhat shitty) manga.

I hope you saw them all!

Anyway, from here on out, I have nothing planned.

Review to help get the creative juices flowing!


	10. Worries and Monumental Decisions

**Aaaand, here's chapter ten, and without an atrocious wait. I'm somewhat surprised at myself.**

**Anyway, I got ZERO reviews last chapter, so how about we change that and give me a few for this chapter?**

**Seriously, I want feedback, even if that feedback is along the lines of "Your writing sucks and you ought to apologize for having the audacity to post something so gallingly awful."**

**REVIEW!**

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Wolf's Rain or ever claim the contrary. I also don't make any money off of the amateur publication of this strictly fanmade work.**_

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Chapter Ten

Worries and Monumental Decisions

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"We're really running low on food," I heard Toboe worriedly announce. I rolled my eyes.

"I know," Hige groaned, "You've been making rations smaller and smaller."

"Wolves can go quite a bit of time without eating," Kiba inserted, "I've gone a month before, just basking in the moonlight."

I glared, but nodded my agreement.

"Worse comes to worst," I decided to joke, "we can always eat each other. First Porky, 'cause he's so fat, then Mr. Worrywart over there."

"You're hardly one to talk," Kiba defended, "I've noticed you've been falling behind when we're running,"

"Just shut up, you're totally full of crap," I snorted, brushing a falling lock of hair from my eyes.

"It's funny," Toboe said, noticing the gesture, "When the crows spoke of you, I always pictured you with short hair and a rat's tail, not long hair."

"Well sorry to destroy your stupid fantasy," I glared.

"You know what? Me too," Hige put in, "I dunno, it just seemed like how it would be."

I had a brief flash of an older version of myself with the hair cut they described, standing, horrified next to the still body of an oddly young Toboe, curled up next to a dead human. I shuddered and closed my eyes to the vision.

What the hell was that? I asked myself. Had my imagination really grown _that_ perverse? No. I wasn't that dark.

But then where did that strange vision come from?

I decided that it wasn't worth my time to think about it.

* * *

"It _still_ exists?" Cher asked Cheza blankly, "It's been _trillions_ of years and it _still_ exists?"

"Well, This One supposes that 'The Book of the Moon' is simply rewritten time and time again," Cheza supplied, "So no, it is not the same book exactly, but it essentially says the same thing."

"That makes so much more sense," Cher sighed sarcastically.

"Well, actually, it does. Otherwise, it suggests that a book maintained it's publication status even as evolution began anew," Cheza corrected. Cher sighed.

She could remember most of her most resent past life and she had the distinct impression that her I.Q. went down a point or two from one life to the next. _She_ used to be the one backing up those sorts of theories.

She wracked her brain for some sort of idea, "I wish I could tell Hubb. I know he's worried about Tsume," Cher heaved a sigh, "How am I to tell him that his charge is a wolf?"

"How did you tell him last time?" Cheza inquired, and Cher thought long and hard. Suddenly coming up with an idea, she tapped 'The Book of the Moon' thoughtfully.

"What do you say we go on a trip, you and I?"

"This One was under the impression that we were indeed going to find the wolves, like last time," Cheza said wryly. Cher smiled before frowning.

"This is getting creepily like how events unfolded last time."

Cheza merely shrugged at Cher's paranoid words, and Cher found herself extremely worried about the outcome of the coming events.

"Good thing I set up that meet up with my brother, huh?"

"Indeed," Cheza smiled, "And Cher, do not worry. This One knows what she is doing," she gently rested a hand on Cher's shoulder, "This One will try to ensure the survival of the others, even if This One must die to renew the world."

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Hubb looked at his watch, waiting. Ric's Cafe wasn't exactly fancy, but it still looked odd to sit there alone, and so far his sister and foster niece (is that what he should call the girl? He didn't know) were nearly twenty minuets late.

He heaved a sigh of relief as he saw them walking in the door, a small girl in a loose fitting red dress reminiscent of Little Red Riding Hood being gently steered by his older sister. He eyed the gentle but firm grip Cher held on Cheza's shoulders. Odd, his sister wasn't usually so controlling. He shrugged it off and waved them over to his table.

"Hey, sis, over here!" he called and Cher grinned, waving.

"So, Hubb, this is Cheza. Cheza, this is Hubb," Cher introduced as she guided the girl to her chair.

"Nice to meet you," Hubb said.

"This One is pleased to meet with you as well," Cheza said softly, face titled in such a way the he could not see her eyes, "It has been too long, has it not?"

"Errr... we haven't met, have we?"

"Not that you can remember, This One supposes," Cheza said brightly, tilting her face up. Hubb gaped at the color of her eyes. They were completely composed of different shades of red.

For the first time, Hubb noticed that her gaze wasn't focused on anything in particular.

She's blind, he realized, and looked to his sister for confirmation. Cher must have interpreted his look correctly for she nodded, allowing a tired look of affection that spoke of exasperation.

His phone buzzed in his pocket.

"Sorry," he said, pulling it from his pocket. A text from Cher. What? He read it and rolled his eyes.

_She can't read a word of Braille either, I'm trying to teach her but, at the moment, it's a pain in the ass. _

Hubb sighed, suppressing laughter over his sister's supposed discretion. He decided it was better that she hadn't said the words aloud, in fear of hurting Cheza's feelings, but there was something decidedly rude about the whole exchange.

"Anyway, Hubb, Cheza and I are going away on vacation, and I was wondering if you could water the plants in my house for me."

"Err, sure, Cher. Of course I can do that," Hubb accepted the key from Cher's outstretched hand. Not only did he have the strangest sense of déjà vu, but also the odd feeling that he had just made a decision that would change the course of his entire life.

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**Ending author's note: Just to reiterate what I said before, at risk of sounding like a whiny, needy, bitch: REVIEW!**

**Sorry, not much action in this one, but I've finally got a vague idea of where I'm going with this. Shocker.**

**Aaand, again: REVIEW!**


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